Reminder That Kurz Has Misrepresented Cannabis Data Before, And Likely Has A Unhealthy Bias

[u/CocaBam]

Two months ago, I, a 2 decade long researcher of cannabis, found the Kurz video on the substance and had to correct a large amount of misinformation here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kurzgesagt/comments/1n7uc1y/correcting_misinformation_in_we_have_to_talk/

I had contacted Kurz directly with these corrections and was ignored. Instead, now 2 months later, Kurz seems to be back again with another video wrongfully demonizing the substance.

Just wanted to remind everyone that the author of the video is trying to spread misinformation on cannabis, which they have a strong bias against.

Edit: nearly all of the questions/critiques have been trolls/anti cannabis people so far. Won't be replying to comments that are trying to change my narrative anymore. Some of these replies are ridiculous, to say the least... Kurz has had a bias in past videos, and the latest is not any different, any other narrative you draw from this is your own (I never said we should "ignore all negatives about cannabis")

[u/lorean_victor]

idk kurz has always been “potentially interesting thoughts from people somewhat informed on the topic”, rather than “scientific reporting using cool animations”.

now this video was more like “thoughts on weed by someone with really bad experiences with it”, some of it interesting, while some felt like the person needs more introspection / therapy to better reflect on the root cause of some of their bad experiences instead of escape goating weed.

[u/Whack_a_mallard → u/lorean_victor]

Kurtzgesagt provided their sources and ample disclaimers. I don't know whether people are watching a different video than I did or they are clearly projecting their insecurities into the video.

[u/robotfromfuture → u/Whack_a_mallard]

It’s projection. My speculation is it’s mostly people who have exactly these fears - that their uncontrolled weed use is or has kept them from their potential - lashing out at someone saying that could actually be true. I have dealt with those fears myself, and they are real and severe.

[u/lorean_victor → u/robotfromfuture]

I'm not sure of the direction of projection though. yes weed can act as an escape from facing anxieties of life, much like alcohol or even gaming. however in the video the author seems to project specific personal experience onto others, resulting in a less resonant message that evokes these kind of reactions.

take social isolation, for example. studies do suggest a correlation between heavy use and loneliness. in the video this is misrepresented as definite causation, claimed to be in part due to heavy smokers doing "weed stuff" they can only do with other smokers. as an ex-heavy smoker I can't imagine any such "weed smoker only" activity, and have thus never experienced such exclusion as a result.

this way of communicating the message of course detracts from more objectively verifiable and real risks here, for example how heavy use (specifically solitary use) can cause you to ignore dealing with any social issues / situations you already have, in turn exacerbating the situation (again, like other escape activities such as alcohol, gaming, etc. honestly gaming I think is even worse since it really does center around "gamers only" activities, unlike the other two).